


worse than aubrelian flu

by poor_sickies



Series: tumblr prompt fills [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 06:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poor_sickies/pseuds/poor_sickies
Summary: Lance gets the stomach flu in space, and Allura insists on taking care of him…despite Earth illnesses being nothing like Altean ones.





	worse than aubrelian flu

“Ugh, I wanna  _die_ -” Lance groans, his voice distorted from inside the bucket. Apparently stomach flus are a thing in space - as if everything else wasn’t trying to kill him already.

He’s curled up on himself, hunched over a bucket, an arm wrapped around his middle - he had thought throwing up would alleviate the stomach cramps, but it had somehow made them worse.

“Yeah, man, stomach issues suck,” Hunk says, rubbing his back as Lance heaves again over the bucket. 

It finally stops, after a while, so Lance leans into Hunk’s shoulder and tries to catch his breath.

“You should drink some more tea,” Hunk sighs, leaning forward to pick up the mug on the bedside table. It’s still warm, and Lance hadn’t drunk a third of it. 

“Noo,  _please_ \- just thinking about drinking makes me feel sicker,” Lance moans, dragging his hands through his face, still grossed out at how sweaty he was. His hair is matted to his forehead and neck, and he can feel wet spots in his t-shirt, under his arms. He looks like a mess.

“I know, I know, but you gotta keep hydrated. You’ll only feel worse if you don’t. Come on,” Hunk places the mug under Lance’s chin, “just some sips.”

Lance sighs, and takes kittenish sips, Hunk still holding the tea for him. He swallows and throws his head back with a grimace. “No more,” he shakes his head.

He maneuvers himself on the bed to lay back down, on his side. Hunk gets up, and covers him with the blankets, after safely placing the bucket on the floor.

“My stomach hurts  _so bad_ …”, Lance moans from under the covers. 

Hunk pats his shoulder gently. “I’m gonna go empty the bucket now, and I’ll stop by the kitchen to check if we have hot water bottles. That would probably help with the pain…you think you’ll be alright without the bucket for a bit?”

“Yeah, yeah, I think I’m done for now…but don’t take long.”

“Okay,” Hunk moves to the door, “keep drinking your tea.”

“No promises.”

*

He does drink the tea, though - not because it feels good, but Lance can’t bear the taste of sick in his mouth anymore.

When the door opens, he’s actually about to ask Hunk for more, but it’s not Hunk who steps in - it’s Allura.

With the bucket in one hand, a new mug of tea on the other, and a hot water bottle under her arm, she stands in the doorway, looking confused and mildly surprised. “You look terrible,” she says, taking quick steps to move closer.

Lance tries to sink further under the covers. The thing he has with Allura - maybe not quite a relationship, because they hadn’t actually talked about it, but they had kissed and held each other at night multiple times - is quite new, and he knows how bad he looks right now. He tries to cover himself, embarrassed, while Allura takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

She places the bucket on the floor, near Lance, and holds the hot water bottle. “Hunk said this would help with your stomach pains,” she says softly.

“Thanks, Allura.” Lance accepts it, and lifts up the blankets to place the bottle under his tshirt, immediately feeling some relief, as the heat numbs the sharp cramps to a duller ache.

“He also said you need to drink more tea.” She hands him the mug, and Lance really doesn’t want more tea now, his stomach fels full and maybe he’s getting nauseous again, but it’s Allura, and he doesn’t want to seem whiny. So he pushes himself up on his elbows, and sits against the headboard, taking some tentative sips. It tastes close to mint tea, but somehow the cold sensation makes him feel worse.

“Lance…?” Allura asks, unsure, but takes the mug when Lance pushes it back, placing it on the bedside table.

He only has time to notice his own rushed breaths before grabbing the bucket and throwing up again.

“ _What the quiznack?!_ ” Allura gets up, visibly horrifyed, as Lance keeps heaving into the bucket, this time only throwing up tea and water. When he stops, Allura is still frozen in the middle of the room.

“What was  _that_?! Y-You! You are really sick!!” She yells, with an accusatory finger pointing at Lance, “you, are on mandatory bedrest! Until I say so!!”

Lance coughs weakly into his elbow, and reaches for the mug again. “It’s not  _that_ bad-” he rasps out, managing to worry Allura even more with his scratchy voice. Throwing up was starting to take some toll on his throat too.

“You were - spasming…! A-And, and your drink just came out of your-”

“I was throwing up…?!” Lance shrugs, an incredulous look on his face. “What did you think the bucket was for!?”

“I don’t know?! I was not expecting…this!” Allura exclaims.

Lance bows his head down, suddenly feeling even more self conscious. “I know it’s gross… you don’t have to stay.”

“Wha- no!! I want to stay!” 

Allura sits back down on Lance’s bed, closer to him this time, and places a hand on his chest, rubbing soft circles with her thumb, until she pushes him gently, to make him lay down again. “You’re feeling unwell… I want to take care of you. I just don’t know what to expect from human illnesses. I’ve never seen someone…do what you just did! It seemed extremely unpleasant…! I don’t want to leave you alone right now. I wouldn’t want to be alone if I was in that state.”

Lance manages a laugh. “I wouldn’t leave you if you were sick either. Even with some wacky Altean illness.”

“I would appreciate that a lot,” Allura sighs softly. She sits against the headboard and runs her fingers through Lance’s hair.

“My hair’s gross right now, Allura,” Lance says, despite it feeling pretty comforting.

“Does it feel good?” She asks, without stopping.

“It does,” he nods.

They stay in silence for a while, only Lance’s soft breathing and Allura placing the mug back.

“Hey, Allura?” Lance asks quietly.

“Yes?”

“What kind of symptoms do Altean illnesses have?”

“Oh, that would depend on the illness,” she explains, “if you have the slipperies, you sweat excessively, and they say it’s quite uncomfortable. But if you get a common Aubrelian flu, you get some dark blue blemishes all over your skin… or if you have a shifter lobe infection, you lose control of your shapeshifting for a few quintents.”

“That sounds like it would be funny,” Lance chuckles, voice soft, his eyes already closing.

“It can be quite entertaining, yes… it’s not too pleasant though. But it’s probably not as bad as this Earth flu you have.”

“Maybe not,” Lance yawns, and snuggles up closer to Allura, letting her warmth relax him, leaning to the touch of her delicate fingers through his hair.

“Rest,” she says, tugging the blankets closer, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”


End file.
